Carnival Magic 12/9-16 Review

Just returned from the Magic and had a great time! We flew in one day prior and stayed near the Hobby Airport. We then used the hotel's shuttle to return to the airport the next morning to catch CCL's transportation to the Galveston port. Embarkation/Debarkation in Galveston was the smoothest we've ever experienced. On the ship by 11:30 AM on Day 1 and off by 9:00 AM on last day. Staff/crew were all so friendly!! Ship was very clean and we saw workers cleaning on glass, etc., round the clock. Our favorite area was the Serenity Adults only area at the front on the top deck. Very quiet, especially at night.

FOOD: Lido buffet was so-so. Never had to wait in line at Lido and never had trouble finding a table. The wait staff was very quick to clean/clear off tables. Pizza was okay. Loved the ice cream and yogurt! Oceanside Grill had the best sliders!! Too bad it's only open on sea days. :( We had anytime dining in the Northern Lights dining room. We ate in there 4 out of the 7 nights. For 3 of those nights we were in Ulla's section: best waitress we've ever had!!! For the other night we sat in another section - absolutely terrible!! It took forever and the food was bad. The line for the MDR was always long but moved quickly to get inside. The Steakhouse and the Italian Restaurant were very good - highly recommend those! The lobster on the first formal night was very good along with the chocolate melting cake, of course!

ENTERTAINMENT: Two productions shows were good - not the best but still enjoyed them. The Destination Unknown show was great!!! The comedians in the Spotlight lounge were good overall. Just June was the best one though! We went to a lot of the Karaoke sessions - Jay made that lots of fun! He's such a Diva! :) We made a few new friends at Karaoke as well.

CABIN: Deluxe OV (deck 1 aft) with 2 bathrooms - wonderful! It's my understanding CCL plans to include these cabins on future ships. Only available on Dream, Magic and Breeze currently (I think). Cabin steward was great! AC worked better than any ship we've sailed on. Almost too good - cold at times. The new lighting feature that requires your sign/sail card was neat - at least you always knew where your card was. Room was very quiet. The only exception was when the ship was entering/leaving a port. When those thrusters kick in the whole back end shakes. But we almost always book an aft cabin. It doesn't bother us at all. Just reminds us we're cruising! :) I don't understand why some people complain about the limited TV stations in the cabins. We had enough to keep up with the news as well as a few sitcoms. But we didn't board a cruise ship to watch TV!!

PORTS: Enjoyed all: Key West - had visited before so we walked up/down Duval Street; Freeport - Paradise Cove; Nassau - Atlantis Resort.

The Magic is beautiful. Some reviewers have complained that the decor is much more subdued than other CCL ships. We loved it. One of the first things we noticed when going to our cabin on embarkation day was how much wider the hallways are than previous ships we've sailed on. That was nice. The only time we had trouble getting a seat in the theater was for the magic show. Had no problems on other nights. But if you plan to see the comedians in the Spotlight Lounge, get there early. It fills up quickly. As usual, the dining room locations present a problem of requiring passengers to go up and over to get around them. Every CCL ship we've sailed on was like this. I wish they would get away from that. The muster drill was almost painless. We didn't have to drag our life vests with us AND most, if not all, muster stations were inside with plenty of seating. Only took about 10 minutes. Thank you, CCL!

This was definitely one of our best cruises thus far. We would definitely recommend this ship and itinerary. However, post-cruise depression has set in. The doctor has recommended that we book another one as a remedy. :) If you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them! Happy sailing!

Thanks for your review. How early do you recommend arriving for the magic show? Did you go to the early showing or late?

If you want a good selection of seats, I'd recommend arriving 30 minutes early. This particular show had two showings: a 7PM and 9PM (I think?). We went to the late show on this night. Some of the shows only had one time slot.

Glad you had a great time! Did you use CCL's transportation on debarkation day? What time was your outbound flight from Houston Hobby? Thanks in advance :)

Yes - we used CCL's transportation. We were in group 7 and were off the ship by 9:00 AM. However, since they wait for the bus to fill up, we didn't leave the port until 10:00 AM. Our flight wasn't until 3:50 PM. We chose the 3:50 PM flight because it was a direct flight. There was another direct flight around 9AM but I knew we couldn't make that one. And the other flights that left earlier than 3:50 PM didn't get us home until later since they were connecting flights. Probably more than you wanted to know, but we had a lot of people ask us why we booked such a late flight. But we were home by 5:00 PM so it was nice. You can leave the ship much earlier if you use the Self Assist option, but that requires you to carry ALL of your luggage off of the ship yourself. That's hard since you have to catch elevators/stairs to do so. And with a lot of others trying to do the same. Hope this helps!

Thanks for your review. We are sailing on the Magic in March 2013 and have an OceanView room as well with the two bathrooms, on Riviera Deck. What room did you have? We will have 3 cabins and one of them will have 3 of our 5 grandsons. Was it just the two of you or did you have any children traveling with you? Thanks in advance for your responses.

Yes - we used CCL's transportation. We were in group 7 and were off the ship by 9:00 AM. However, since they wait for the bus to fill up, we didn't leave the port until 10:00 AM. Our flight wasn't until 3:50 PM. We chose the 3:50 PM flight because it was a direct flight. There was another direct flight around 9AM but I knew we couldn't make that one. And the other flights that left earlier than 3:50 PM didn't get us home until later since they were connecting flights. Probably more than you wanted to know, but we had a lot of people ask us why we booked such a late flight. But we were home by 5:00 PM so it was nice. You can leave the ship much earlier if you use the Self Assist option, but that requires you to carry ALL of your luggage off of the ship yourself. That's hard since you have to catch elevators/stairs to do so. And with a lot of others trying to do the same. Hope this helps!

Thanks a bunch! You can't ever have too much information! So there was another CCL shuttle available earlier? It's much cheaper for us to fly to Houston, then to Florida, so this is a great help for us for our 2014 cruise!

Nice! I was on her 2 weeks before you [Western Caribbean].

I see you loved Destination Unknown too. It was the best show by far!

I will be sailing on the Magic in Jan. This will be my first time flying.

I have a few questions about CCL transportation.

Do you know what time the first shuttle leaves from Hobby?

When arriving at the terminal do you have to collect you luggage, or will it be checked for you?

When disembarking, do you have to collect you luggage then carry it to the shuttle or will it already be loaded?

Sorry of these are silly ?'s I've always driven to the port and carried off my luggage.

Melissa

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Thanks for your review! I look forward to sailing the Magic! Did you try the ropes course?

Crazyboys: We were in Cabin 1439, deck 1. This is an aft cabin. We like aft cabins since it is a straight shot up to the Lido Deck for breakfast each day. We also had cabins above us (NOT lounges or music areas) so it was so quiet. Also cheaper! :) No - we have no children so it was just the two of us.

QTPieRye: Are you referring to disembarkation day? If so, yes - there were earlier shuttles. They started calling Self Assist passengers around 7:30 AM (if not before) so they were the first people off the ship. Obviously that requires you to personally carry ALL of your luggage off of the ship yourself. They started calling off all others, beginning with Zone 1, around 8:00 AM.

daijayx2: The first CCL shuttle leaves Hobby at 10:00 A.M. We were on the ship by 11:30 AM. Very efficient!! If you've booked the air portion on your own, you'll need to collect your luggage. The Carnival rep will be right there near baggage claim. When disembarking you'll need to collect your luggage in the cruise terminal then you'll be directed to the buses. You need to book CCL's transfers PRIOR to leaving for your cruise. I think it's 4 days ahead of your sail date. No such thing as a silly question!!

Any other questions? I'm glad to help!! :)

Crazyboys: We were in Cabin 1439, deck 1. This is an aft cabin. We like aft cabins since it is a straight shot up to the Lido Deck for breakfast each day. We also had cabins above us (NOT lounges or music areas) so it was so quiet. Also cheaper! :) No - we have no children so it was just the two of us.

Thanks so much for your response. Our five grandsons keep asking us questions about the room and ship, etc., and this will help. One of their rooms is 1376, so not too far away from yours. This will be their first cruise as well as our two Children and their spouses'. We have never cruised on the Magic, but have 3 cruises with Carnival and one with Holland America. Thanks again.

You are so very welcome! I know you'll love the Magic. We certainly did. And due to the extra bathroom the cabin is a little longer and therefore has more closet space than previous OV cabins we'v'e had. One closet has shelves and the others are for hanging clothes. We had more than enough room for clothes. Plus the fact that after 14 cruises we've finally mastered the art of packing ONLY what we need - no more, no less. I was so proud! We actually wear our dinner clothes 2-3 times for evening dinner - gasp!! It's just silly to pack a different outfit for each night or for every different "mood". I recommend packing your clothes on the hanger in your suitcase when you leave home. I was not crazy about the type that are in the cabin. And there's never enough of them anyway. Leaving them on the hangers from home makes it so much easier to pack/unpack as well. I took some pictures of the cabin, but I haven't had a chance to pull them from my camera. I'll try to do that tomorrow and ATTEMPT to post it to this thread.

Jay is on the Magic?!?!?! Oh you just made me even more excited for our cruise next month. While we do not get up and sing we LOVE to go watch and when we have been before with Jay he sure made it even more fun. Cannot wait!

Jay is on the Magic?!?!?! Oh you just made me even more excited for our cruise next month. While we do not get up and sing we LOVE to go watch and when we have been before with Jay he sure made it even more fun. Cannot wait!

Jay is hilarious!!!! One lady got up to sing and he said "oh i love your dress.. i wish i could wear it but they won't let me"

Thanks for your review, glad you had a good time.

What is Destination Unknown?

Jay is on the Magic?!?!?! Oh you just made me even more excited for our cruise next month. While we do not get up and sing we LOVE to go watch and when we have been before with Jay he sure made it even more fun. Cannot wait!

Jay is there! We do not sing either, but we went to Karoke almost every time to see him. he is "absolutely.........BRILLIANT!" LOL!!

What is Destination Unknown?

Destination Unknown features a magician from Vegas. It is really good! The laser light effects are really neat, too.

Welcome back, thanks for the review!

Thanks for your review. How early do you recommend arriving for the magic show? Did you go to the early showing or late?

Katie, when we went we had made a last minute decision over dinner. We didnt know if there would be seating so walked in and noticed a row in the very front completely empty. We walked up there and I asked one of the guys working that area and he said it was open, have a seat...so we did..as we were sitting, the show started. Front row seats were great!

Sorry to those who hoped to see pics of our Deluxe OV Room w/2 baths. I tried to upload them but was not successful. :(

Destination Unknown features a magician from Vegas. It is really good! The laser light effects are really neat, too.

Thank You! We will be on the Magic in 1 month!

Thanks so much for your response. Our five grandsons keep asking us questions about the room and ship, etc., and this will help. One of their rooms is 1376, so not too far away from yours. This will be their first cruise as well as our two Children and their spouses'. We have never cruised on the Magic, but have 3 cruises with Carnival and one with Holland America. Thanks again.

CrazyBoys - We also stayed in one of the Deluxe OV Cabins. I have a review in my signature with pictures of the Cabin. My husband and I and our kids loved this type of cabin. Hope that helps....

PORTS: Enjoyed all: Key West - had visited before so we walked up/down Duval Street; Freeport - Paradise Cove; Nassau - Atlantis Resort.

 

We will be on the Magic again in April and will also be going to Key West, Freeport and Nassau. We are planning to go to Paradise Cove and Atlantis as well. What did you think about Paradise Cove? Did you snorkel? What did yall do at Atlantis? The full park access or beach day? Did you buy your tickets at Atlantis or through the ship?

 

Sorry for all of the questions....